William Heise County Park Campground

We checked in on a Sunday and left on a Wednesday in the middle of summer, and the place was almost entirely empty. What a refreshing change after our last trip, which was at Carlsbad, and packed to the gills. It was so nice to have most of the campground to ourselves, and our campsite was very spacious, shaded, and lovely. The rangers patrol often and enforce the rules. I was surprised to find that you can enjoy forest camping only an hour outside of San Diego. We will definitely be back and I would like to see what this place is like in the autumn months.

Make sure to have a meal at Jeremy‘s On the Hill in the nearby town of Julian. He is not located in the touristy part of Julian, which makes it even better. He is a trained Cordon Bleu chef and his meals were absolutely amazing.

This campground offers a plethora of hiking trails, so be sure to bring gear for that.

We did run into quite a large number of gnats and wish that we had brought a netted tent to enjoy the outdoors a little more comfortably.

We stayed for several days in site 45 which must have had at least a 55’ long driveway. It was only a single width, and although it didn’t really have any shade (great for our solar panels!), it felt very private with bushes on both sides. There didn’t seem to be any campsite behind it either, but it was still pretty close to the restrooms with flush toilets and sink (no soap though). There’s a dumpster near the restroom with recycling bins for plastic and aluminum cans (no glass though). The night skies were amazing, and because the moon didn’t rise until later, it was so dark once the sun set!

We were able to fit our trailer (which is about 29’ long when popped open, our Ford F-150 and our in-laws’ Volt with room to spare. It had a big picnic table and campfire ring and a large tent area (although you could tell that any rain water would run through the tent area and down the slope on the site).

The showers which were a bit further away (probably walkable but we just drove there since there was parking there) took quarters - and was reasonably priced (like 75 cents for 6 minutes). At first the water was cold, and I thought we wasted our quarters, but it took just a little bit to get really hot. The shower we used was one of the handicap all in one bathrooms, and you couldn’t adjust the water temperature (but it got really nice and hot and had ok pressure (like a strong mist)).

You could buy a bundle of firewood for $6 which also seemed quite reasonable. We didn’t get a chance to hike any of the trails, but we went into Julian and Wynola on different days and had lots of fun visiting several of the attractions including apple picking. They don’t have any gates at the entrance, so we got there after the rangers left, set up our trailer at our campsite and then went and got the tag for our truck the next day.

Site 28. Partially shady. Good / easy electric hookup. 3% slope on our spot. Relatively quiet east going campground. Weren’t directly on top of neighbors. For quick and easy get away from SD it’s perfect. Forgot our pie though from Julian.

Note. Lots of yellow jackets / bees which was annoying. They came when you brought food out.

we got there late Sunday and self-checked in which was super easy.

Perhaps it was because we checked in on Sunday, the park is very quiet and clean.

We loved everything about the camp...lots of trees and rolling hills on the way and all the wild life in the park (wild turkeys, blue jays, & racoons)! Best of all, tit was long time since I saw the night sky full of stars...are so mesmerizing...

Check it out, you won't regret it!

The campsites in the 42-60 loop are mostly very deep and private. Backing our 14 ft trailer into this spot was super easy and the end is pretty level. Once on site, all we could see are trees. Perfect! I think we were the only ones besides the host on loop 2, but it was mid week and mid March. The bathrooms are clean, showers are fine, and we saw a lot of wildlife. My only minor complaint is that the hose bibs seem a bit scarce (closest were at 42 or 47), but the water is sweet and its good to walk a bit. Its nice to be so close to so many hiking trails, beautiful walks, and Julian. At night it was perfectly quiet for us, very peaceful.

I really loved this campground. We went with another family and found that we could go between our RV campsites (29 & 31) through a hidden tent site, which was fun for the kiddos. It was pretty hot during our visit, but the shade from the trees and breeze cooled us off. The hiking trails were great with options for short and longer hikes. The campground is close to Julian, CA—a small town where there are plenty of options for food, shopping, and local entertainment.

Great for tech-free environment. No wifi provided.
Dump station on premises.